Berry growers partner with Cornell to evaluate new varieties

Courtney Weber (in hat) conducts taste testing with horticulture graduate students.
Courtney Weber (in hat) conducts taste testing with horticulture graduate students.

Story by Amanda Garris, Cornell Chronicle, 7/5/2012:

“Through a new agreement between the New York State Berry Growers Association (NYSBGA) and the Cornell berry breeding program, raspberry and strawberry growers across the state will evaluate elite selections from the university in their own fields. …

“‘The industry was looking for a way to provide stable support for Cornell berry research and variety development,’ said Dale Ila Riggs, NYSBGA president and co-owner of The Berry Patch in Stephentown, N.Y. ‘When we learned that hands in the field are one of the biggest limiting factors in evaluating new berry varieties, we offered to be those hands.’ …

“‘Growers will give us feedback on how the flavor, yield, color and disease resistance compare to other varieties they are growing,’ said Courtney Weber, associate professor of horticulture based at Cornell’s New York State Agricultural Experiment Station in Geneva. ‘The most important question for me is whether they’d want to plant more.'”

Read the whole story.

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